Tories tweak short-form census in wake of language protest

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OTTAWA — The federal government announced changes to the 2011 census Wednesday in a bid to ensure its controversial plan to scrap the long-form census questionnaire won't violate official language laws.

Industry Minister Tony Clement made the announcement hours after a Federal Court sided with a francophone group that is challenging the government over its decision to replace the mandatory long-form census questionnaire with a voluntary survey, alleging it violates the Official Languages Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Clement said the Conservatives will introduce legislation in the fall seeking to drop jail time as a possible penalty for Canadians who refuse to answer mandatory questionnaires administered by the government. Canadians will still be subject to a fine of as much as $500 if they don't complete the census form or other mandatory surveys, such as the Census of Agriculture.

None of the initiatives announced Wednesday change the government's course on cancelling the mandatory long-form census, a decision that has sparked major controversy and prompted the resignation of the head of Statistics Canada.

The industry minister said the government is moving two questions about languages from the now defunct long-form census to the still-mandatory short-form census, thereby removing any doubt that the government's decision violated language laws.

"I've always said that we should be in compliance," Clement said. "Perhaps there's an overabundance of caution, perhaps it's also predicated on new advice that we received from the new chief statistician. It just felt to be the prudent and wise thing to do to ensure that there was no question that we were fulfilling our obligations under the Official Languages Act and the best way to do that was to migrate the two questions over to the short-form census."

Canadians will now be asked in the census if they can speak English or French well enough to conduct a conversation; what language is spoken most often at home; and if any languages other than that one are also spoken at home.

Clement wouldn't comment on how the changes might affect the Court challenge launched by the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities of Canada. On Wednesday morning, a Federal Court judge in Ottawa agreed to fast-track the group's case to ensure the matter could be settled in time for the government to make any necessary changes to the 2011 census.

Roza Aronovitch wrote in her decision that the case "raises an important question of public interest regarding the linguistic rights of Canadians" and she set hearings for Sept. 27 and 28.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government would have until Aug. 25 to submit its own affidavits for the case.

The Official Languages Act requires the government to provide services for minority French-speaking communities, and the group argues the data collected from the long-form census questionnaire are essential for determining where those services must be available.

The president of the group could not immediately be reached for comment following Clement's announcement late Wednesday afternoon, but NDP Leader Jack Layton credited the group for provoking the change.

"The Harper government is finally starting to admit that it was wrong," he told Postmedia News. "Whatever logic they thought they had is now gone."

The NDP leader said he's still going to pursue his own plans — seeking an emergency debate or even legislation — to bring the census controversy to the House of Commons when Parliament resumes Sept. 20 because he doesn't have details about Clement's proposed bill.

"We're going to pursue all these things, (because) we haven't seen Mr. Clement's legislation," Layton said, joking that the minister was making up his policies on the social-media website Twitter. "It's probably written on the back of his tweet."

The opposition parties have repeatedly called on the government to reinstate the long-form census, which was previously sent to approximately 20 per cent of households, but the Conservatives are not backing down on that front. Over the past month, a wide range of groups that rely on census data has pleaded with the government to reverse its course.

"This government doesn't care about health-care, doesn't care about housing, doesn't care about how Canadians are really living," said Liberal MP Bob Rae. "I think the government has been creepy, dishonest and underhanded."

Clement continued his defence of the government's decision, however, saying it is striking a balance between the need for data and the concerns of Canadians who didn't want to be forced to answer the 40-page long census form.

"This is a decision that we made as a government and we think it's important to represent Canadians who felt that the long form was too intrusive and too coercive so that's who we're representing," he told Postmedia News.

"Certainly as we move forward with other census policies I'd be happy to meet with groups that have opinions that are either similar to mine or very different than mine."

He also rejected the assertions from the opposition that he misled Canadians and gave them the impression that Statistics Canada, was in full support of the government's new policy.

The official languages commissioner, Graham Fraser, had launched an investigation last month into the decision, but a spokesman said he could not immediately comment on whether the government's move Wednesday would have an impact on the process.

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